ArtCorner

There are some general décor tips that help you immensely when you want to know how to summer up your home. Summer décor tips in general suggest that you choose fabrics and art that are light colored and uplifting. Read more »

-“Take me, I am the drug; take me, I am hallucinogenic.”
-“Surrealism? I am Surrealism!” -Salvador Dali

On a quick trip down to London last month, I had the pleasure of visiting the Dali Museum. Read more »

Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh painted Cafe Terrace at Night, also known as The Cafe Terrace on the Place du Forum, as well as Starry Night Over the Rhone and the subsequent Starry Night towards the end of the 19th century while living in Arles France. Café Terrace was the first, painted in 1888. Using oil paint on canvas, Café Terrace at Night, was 32 inches by 26 inches. The original Café Terrace Van Gogh painting now hangs in Otterlo, Netherlands in the Kroller-Muller Museum.

The Café Terrace is a real café in Arles and its name is now Café Van Gogh. The painting in the Café Terrace at Night is one unique for Van Gogh in that its colors show warmth and the perspective shows unusual depth. It is the first Van Gogh painting that included stars as a background. That same month he painted another star filled sky in his famous Starry Night over the Rhone. Starry Night was painted the following year, 1889. Once more after that stars filled the background of a Van Gogh painting, in his Portrait of Eugene Boch.

The challenge of night painting was intriguing to Vincent Van Gogh. In Starry Night he captured the gas light reflections across the Rhone River’s blue water. The sky above the scene is lit by the Ursa Major constellation, also known as the Great Bear. In the painting’s foreground lovers stroll along the riverbanks.
Depiction of color was very important to Van Gogh. His Café Terrace at Night and both Starry Night paintings show the effort he put into capturing the sparkle and the color of the sky at night and the artificial lighting just introduced to his era.

If you love art, the best way to pursue your passion is to immerse yourself in it – and to travel around world to visit museums, galleries and more.

Therefore, I started a small “art travel guide” for those of you that want to go on vacation with an artistic theme. Every so often I will post a travel guide for a city or place that immerses itself in Art. A city that celebrates art and that has a special event going on.

If you have any recommendation then let me know…

Los Angeles houses noteworthy museums and galleries, including the Getty Center (now at two locations) and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on the Westside as well as the Norton Simon Museum and the Huntington Library, Art Collection and Botanical Gardens on the Eastside.

Must-see museum exhibition:
Degas at the Getty
through June 11 – Getty Center

The Getty’s broad and important holdings of paintings, drawings, and photographs by Edgar Degas are the focus of this exhibition, which offers a rare opportunity to explore the artist’s mastery across media. The exhibition brings together, for the first time, a wide variety of works by Degas that are usually displayed in different areas of the Museum.

There are many more things to see in LA. The opportunities are virtually endless. whatever you do, enjoy it and get inspired.

Happy and Safe travels!

Turning photos into handmade oil paintings, a new online service any art enthusiast should know. Read more »

As an art connoisseur, I find the transformations of artists fascinating.

Picasso, mostly known for his Cubism, but his oil paintings show transitions in style, from realist to caricature, to a period of blue Picasso paintings and then the era of rose colored Picasso paintings. The Blue Period at the start of the 20th century focused on beggars, prostitutes and other outcasts. One of his most famous blue paintings is The Old Guitarist. It is compressed, stilted, stiff and mostly blue.

In 1904 he turned to rose color, pink and beige and started painting circus people, clowns and harlequins who showed little activity and appeared mute. One of the most famous of these Picasso rose paintings hangs in the National Gallery in Washington DC. It is the 1905 The Lovers. The Pierrot and Columbine painting has two circus workers, painted one-dimensional, looking alienated from others and able to communicate only with each other.

Picasso then moved on to the famous Cubism era. This style is associated with Picasso much more then any previous periods. His art displays his inner essence, how he transformed was reflected on the canvas.

Salvador Dali paintings are best known of the surrealist paintings anywhere in the world. Dali paintings are superficial and hallucinatory, wild with dream scenes from his subconscious. Dali paintings are very detailed and highly real, generally set in a landscape full of sun, but his transformation was as miraculous as Picasso.

Dali was born in Figueres Spain and studied and practiced a number of styles of painting in his youth. The Tartan “El Son” is an important piece from his earlier works. “El Son” Depicts the inner storm of Dali as life seems to crash upon him like the waves.
A later student of Freud his 1920′s era Dali paintings were erotic. This was the start of his surrealist paintings period. He aligned himself with a group of surrealists in Paris led by Andre Beton who had previously been a Dadaist. Dali finally led the surrealist movement and Dali paintings became surreal.

The Explosion, the face of a pocket watch melts and explodes in this surreal painting. The numbers on the face of the watch, along with the gears from inside it, float off into space while the remains of the timepiece slide down a cliff into oblivion. Dali paintings weren’t the artist’s only artistic medium. He made two Surrealist films as well, both filled with very suggestive and grotesque images.

Julie had a great question about hanging art over a staircase and hallway:

“Dear Brei,

I have two staircases which are at opposite ends of my hall. I have a Victorian house with rounded corners and 7 doors off the hallway. I have about 8 to 10 feet of solid wall on either side of the straightway. I have very high walls next to both staircases. After 19 years in the house our hall has been restored. Is there a book or pictures of the best way to hang my art up the stairs and along the hall? Any suggestions would be appreciated.”

Well, a Victorian house sounds spectacular; I would love to see what you’ve done with the place. Read more »

Which ever interior decor you display, Floral art can enhance it. There are various kinds of floral art that can suit your interior decor, be it Tuscan Country, Tropical, Modern or Traditional.
Let’s look at how to match floral artworks to your home interior design. Read more »

A Norwegian court convicted 3 of the 6 men accused in the horrific theft of “The Scream,” a legendary work by Edvard Munch. “The Scream” painting is probably the most famous masterpiece of the Norwegian culture.

The Norwegian court imprisoned the three men for 8 years in prison and placed a $121,000,000 price tag on the famous oil painting. The city of Oslo has set a reward of $370,000 for anyone who would supply information about the whereabouts of the masterpiece.

Norwegian artist Edvard Munch was one of the more gifted painters of our time. As a painter, Munch played a major role in the development of German Expressionism. Throughout his career, Munch’s paintings and print work covered dark themes such as sickness, misery and death. His masterpiece, The Scream, remains as an icon of existential torment.

The Norwegian people are at a loss. I feel for them and hope that the painting will surface soon. “The Scream” is a wonderful masterpiece and its place among the world’s greats of modern art is assured. In fact, this being the second “Scream Sting” in the last 12 years, its value and immortality is on the rise.